Prof. Hannes Gräbe is Head of the Department of Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) at the University of Pretoria. He holds the Chair in Railway Safety, sponsored by the Railway Safety Regulator.
Prof. Gräbe’s research focuses on the behaviour of railway foundation materials subjected to cyclic loading and the characterisation of track component performance and behaviour through field and laboratory experimentation. He combines his experience in track technology, soil mechanics and advanced laboratory testing for the development of novel condition monitoring techniques, maintenance models and numerical analysis of track structures.
Prof. Gräbe holds a PhD degree from the University of Southampton (UK) in Geotechnical Engineering and is a fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE) and registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as a professional Engineer.